New BART app offers exclusive features for hassle-free travel

San Francisco’s Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) has launched a free BART app on iOS App Store and Google Play Store to provide riders with a seamless experience in both stations and trains.

The official app offers riders end-to-end trip planning, real-time departures with up-to-date data from BART, service advisories and the ability to log favourite trips and stations.

An exclusive feature to the app is BART’s new Trip Planner offering end-to-end multi-modal trip itineraries. It allows BART riders, public transport users and those who walk, bike or drive to the station to input their starting point and destination to receive the most transit-friendly and fastest route. The new Trip Planner includes 31 transit operators and provides interactive, personalised itineraries using the many modes of transportation and transit the Bay Area offers.

The BART app provides many features which will help answer and respond to some of the riders’ questions. This includes real-time departures; schedule timetables; station information; information on secure bike and car parking; escalator and elevator advisories; real-time service disruption information; step-by-step navigation with personalised preferences; the ability to set favourites to save time and key strokes; the power to report a Biohazard feature for items that need immediate clean up; and Spanish and Chinese translations.

“The official BART app makes it easy to avoid traffic and take BART wherever you are going, even if the destination isn’t located right next to one of our stations,” said BART Board President, Robert Raburn. “The app unlocks the potential for a seamless connection between all modes of transportation and gives the user everything they need to navigate a trip in one place.”

BART is already working on future features for the app, such as the ability to pay for verified carpool parking spots and tailored push notifications if service disruptions affect the BART line of choice. 

The BART app links to the BART Watch app, which riders can use to report suspicious and illegal activity happening in the stations or in trains. 

BART plans to expand its breadth of digital services later in 2018 with a new BART to Airport app offering discounted mobile tickets for group travel to and from the airport.